thundercats_hofandomcom-20200215-history
Lion-O's Anointment Third Day: The Trial of Cunning
Official Summary *'Lion-O undergoes the third of his Anointment Trials, which each Lord of the Thundercats must pass to prove he is worthy of his inherited title. The Trial of Cunning pits Lion-O against the Thunderkittens: a race through the Maze of Infinity. The Thunderkittens have the advantage of having reconnoitered the maze and plan a number of diversions to confuse and delay Lion-O. The Mutants take advantage of the fact that Lion-O must pass the trials unarmed and cannot accept help from anyone, so the trial includes a number of skirmishes with them. ' *'In the maze, Lion-O is captured by half-blind Cave Dwellers who believe he is an Overlord - an over-earth-man whose ancestors feared the Cave Dweller' books and forced the gentle creatures to live below ground. To punish Lion-O, they try to force him to read until his eyesight fails. Lion-O escapes the Cave Dweller and prevents the Mutants from destroying their books. Meanwhile, the Thunderkittens are trapped above a fiery chasm and call for help. Even though he is sure this is just another Thunderkitten trick, Lion-O investigates. The Cave Dweller help him rescue the Thunderkittens, who were indeed in real danger. Lion-O finally wins the race through the maze, tricking the Thunderkittens by roping them to a rock.' Official Moral *'In the Third Anointment Trial, Lion-0 is forced to match wits with Wilykat and Wilykit, whose traits are tricks and cunning. They are masters of mischief and of using stratagem and devious means rather than direct confrontation to a ' attain their ends. Lion-0 displays astuteness and calls upon his own craftiness to shrewdly match their trickery and win the trial. Sometimes when we are stuck trying to reach a goal by direct means, we should consider the alternative of a skillful plan or device that is indirect. In any event, we should never be so caught up with our own goals that we ignore others in need. Lion-0 takes time to rescue the Thunderkittens and, because he had aided the Cave Dwellers, they in turn help him. We must never be too busy or too lazy to respond to persons who need help.' Notes of Interest * This episode marks the only appearance of a strange race of beings that dwell underground, beneath Third Earth. Although it is explained that these beings were driven underground by other Third Earth races who feared their books (or, presumably, the knowledge contained within them), their origins are still left shrouded in mystery, and in fact no official name is assigned to these creatures during this episode. * In this episode, Panthro twice refers to the Thunderkittens as "the Wilycats", a rare variation on their usual name. * Even though all of the episodes that comprise Lion-O's Anointment Trials are spaced apart, they are written as taking place on consecutive days and as such are designed to be watched together. * When ThunderCats was shown in the UK on the BBC, it was common practice for one episode of the show to be broadcast once a week, unlike in the US where many stations would broadcast the show daily. As opposed to in the US, where the Anointment Trials episodes were spaced apart, in the UK they were shown together, with the five parts being broadcast over the space of five weeks. * These episodes were not broadcast in the UK until September 1990, where they kicked-off a new series (season) of ThunderCats - the new season in question being the latter half of season 1! Interestingly, even though the Anointment Trials episodes had not been broadcast in the UK until that time, several episodes that appear after them in both production and US airdate order had been broadcast on the BBC several years earlier. Notable Quotes. '' ''WILYKAT: Who are these people Lion-O.' ' : LION-O: Friends of mine I guess WILYKAT: You stopped to make friends. WILYKIT: And risked failing your Anonitment trials . Lion- O : ' ''I did'nt planned it that way but you can't have too many friends as you two found out. Cave Dweller: You will read to us Over-earthman. '' # Lion-O : Why don't you read them yourselves. Cave Dweller : One needs Light to read. Cave '''Dweller : ''Our eyes can't no longer bear the light. Cave Dweller : Because of you and your kind. Lion-O : Because of me. Cave Dweller: Your kind forced are ancestors to hide in these caves. Lion-O : My kind. Cave Dweller: The overlords they feared our books . Cave Dweller: They sought to destory them. Cave Dweller: Now you will read to us until your eyes can no longer bear the light. Cave Dweller: Without over -earth eyes you must remind down here forever. Snarf : Look Lion-O is back on the track. Cave Dweller : We heard the cries . Cave Dweller: We'll help your friends . Cave Dweller: You helped us . Cave Dweller: You saved our books.. Category:Thundercats: 1980s TV episodes